Brands need to pass two tests to get into our tone of voice hall of fame:
1. They need to have their own tone.
2. And stick to it.
If you think we’ve missed anyone off (but bear in mind that we’re fussy and strict).
 howies |  Pret |
||
 innocent |
 Macmillan Cancer Support |
||
 Peppersmith gum |
 Stutterheim Raincoats |
||
 Hiut Denim |
 Iceland Express | ||
 Jack Daniels |
 Donna Wilson |
||
 J Peterman |
 Old Town |
||
 Butterfield and Robinson |
 Plan A (M&S) |
||
 Trufflepig |  Help Remedies |
||
 826 and McSweeney's |
 Visit Wales |
||
 Puccino's |
 Scandinavian Kitchen |
||
 Housing Works |
 Jonathan Adler |
||
 First Direct |
Honourable mentions
And our pick of brands that get their tone of voice right most of the time:
 Method |
 Virgin Media |
|
 Le Labo |
 Patagonia |
|
 BrewDog |
I love this site. How about Boden?
Thanks Paula. Hm, Boden. Our take is that their words used to be really good but they’ve gone a bit marketing-y.
The rest of the internet: what do you think?
I can’t remember how I found ‘We All Need Words’ (to be honest I don’t care), I’m just so bloody glad I did. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading everything my eyes have settled on…brilliant. I couldn’t resist suggesting an addition to your tone of voice hall of fame. So, here it is – http://www.jonathancrisp.co.uk/index1.htm. To be honest the crisp packets are the keepers and the stories on the back, brilliant! If you haven’t seen them I’ve posted two of the stories on my blog which if you have time, you can find here – http://setmethree.com/three-story/
i’m a design student and i really love your site. you guys clearly know your stuff but i was wondering if you could educate me a little and explain why you think one of these brands is working so well??
Hi Kate. We’ll do our best. Look at howies. They’re a small company from Cardigan, Wales, who sell outdoor clothes. Their words – in their emails, brochures, shops and on their blog – always sound like them. They aren’t just consistent, they’re howies.
Tone of voice isn’t easy to get right and many brands miss the mark. When a tone doesn’t work we often say ‘that sounds copywritten’. What we mean is that you can hear the writer putting on ‘a voice’ or using cheap writer tricks. A good tone of voice should sound natural, as if the brand’s talking to you.
We find that nearly all the brands doing tone of voice well are small companies, or they act smaller than they are and have a little team of full-time writers. Innocent drinks come in for a lot of flak for their chatty style. But actually it takes a lot of hard work, good ideas and careful editing to get their words spot-on. You only have to look at how badly other brands imitate their tone to see how good they are.
We hope that helps. We’ve written more about tone of voice here.
congratulations on a lovely site – and for doing so much verbal branding work.
I like so much you’ve said, it’d be churlish to pick out things i don’t like…but i’m going to. Do you really like the Virgin Media stuff – everytime i see the van, i have a little smile, but it seems a freak occurance amongst all the other verbal stuff they’ve done. It’s funny, but it seems to fall so far short of a brand-wide Verbal Identity. Have you seen other of their stuff, were you involved with them?
Thanks Chris. No, we haven’t done done any work for Virgin Media. Their van is especially good but their L., XL. XXL naming system is another on-brand wordy example that springs to mind. But we’ll keep an eye on them.
Good Evening WANW. I found you ages ago, just after you were born. Then I lost you again for ages. Now I found you again. Thank the omnipotent Google for that. Those keywords make a world of difference. Still find your website to be an inspiration.
I’d like to propose The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies store and Deus Ex Machina (the Australian motorcycle/cycle/surf brand, not the videogame) for inclusion in your hall of fame. Check them out and enjoy.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I’ll also call you tomorrow to talk about a Tone of Voice that I need to create. Perhaps you can help.
Regards, Shaughn.
PS. Thanks for including Old Town. Crikey, I love really love that store.
Aw, thank you Shaughn. We like The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Store. It’s London’s offshoot of 826 who are already in our hall of fame. But maybe we should give them their own spot…